MONROE - Green County landowners are facing a farmland preservation plan rewrite.
The rewrite provides an opportunity to apply for tax credits for landowners.
Green County is in the second wave of counties in the state that are in the rewriting stage, with a deadline by the end of 2012.
By the beginning of January 2016, Wisconsin counties that write a Farmland Preservation Plan, and get approval, can provide their landowners with the opportunity to apply for a $5 per acre tax credit, per year, said Todd Jenson, Green County conservationist.
The credit is administered by the Working Lands Initiative through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
If a landowner is approved through the program, a 15-year contract will be signed with DATCP and landowners are required to follow various soil conservation and water quality practices.
A plan for the preservation of farmland was last written in Green County in the early 1980s.
As part of the rewriting process, each township will decide what its wants to keep as rural development and what they want to designate development land.
The Green County Land and Water Conservation Committee, which met April 7 to discuss the Farmland Preservation Plan rewrite, recently signed a contract with Robert T. Rudd of Rudd and Associates of New Glarus.
Rudd will provide consulting services in support of the rewrite of the County's Farmland Preservation Program.
The committee will establish a Technical Advisory sub-committee, consisting of one or two representatives from each township, as well as members of the county board.
The committee will meet over the next 18 months.
The rewrite provides an opportunity to apply for tax credits for landowners.
Green County is in the second wave of counties in the state that are in the rewriting stage, with a deadline by the end of 2012.
By the beginning of January 2016, Wisconsin counties that write a Farmland Preservation Plan, and get approval, can provide their landowners with the opportunity to apply for a $5 per acre tax credit, per year, said Todd Jenson, Green County conservationist.
The credit is administered by the Working Lands Initiative through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
If a landowner is approved through the program, a 15-year contract will be signed with DATCP and landowners are required to follow various soil conservation and water quality practices.
A plan for the preservation of farmland was last written in Green County in the early 1980s.
As part of the rewriting process, each township will decide what its wants to keep as rural development and what they want to designate development land.
The Green County Land and Water Conservation Committee, which met April 7 to discuss the Farmland Preservation Plan rewrite, recently signed a contract with Robert T. Rudd of Rudd and Associates of New Glarus.
Rudd will provide consulting services in support of the rewrite of the County's Farmland Preservation Program.
The committee will establish a Technical Advisory sub-committee, consisting of one or two representatives from each township, as well as members of the county board.
The committee will meet over the next 18 months.